Ukulandela umzekelo kaGeorge W. Bush wokugcina imali yemfazwe kwiincwadi, uMongameli uBarack Obama ufuna i-83.4 yeebhiliyoni zeedola kwinkxaso-mali eyongezelelweyo "engxamisekileyo" kwiimfazwe zaseMelika e-Iraq nase-Afghanistan, eya kuthi, ukuba ivunyiwe, iya kuzisa inkxaso-mali ye-2009 malunga ne-150 yeebhiliyoni zeedola. kunye neendleko zizonke zeemfazwe ezimbini ukuya phantse kwi-1 yezigidigidi zeedola.
U-Obama wayengumgxeki oqatha weqhinga lolawulo lukaBush lokunqanda ukubeka iindleko zemisebenzi yomibini kuhlahlo lwabiwo-mali lomkhosi lulonke, kodwa ngoku wenza okufanayo. Esi sicelo samva nje songeza kwibhajethi yomkhosi yeebhiliyoni ezingama-534 zeedola ulawulo olutyhilwe ekuqaleni kweveki. Olo hlahlo lwabiwo-mali yayiyeyemali ka-2010, kwaye yayilunyuko kuhlahlo lwabiwo-mali lokugqibela lolawulo lwaseBush ukusuka ngo-2009.
The move comes on the heels of Obama’s surprise visit to Baghdad’s airport on April 7, where he met with soldiers whom he praised for their “extraordinary achievement” in Irakh. If he is referencing something good, I must have missed it. But we can certainly point to other examples, each qualifying as an “extraordinary achievement” by the US zomkhosi kwi Irakh. That the US ukuhlasela kunye nokusebenza kwe Irakh Unayo bulawa ngaphezu kwe-1.3 yezigidi zase-Iraqis ngokuqinisekileyo iyamangalisa. Ukuba umsebenzi ufuduse umntu omnye kwabathandathu baseIraq kumakhaya abo nabo bafaneleka njengento engaqhelekanga. Into yokuba ilizwe lonke lingatshatyalaliswa lize lenziwe indawo embi kakhulu yokuhlala xa lithelekiswa naxa lalilawulwa nguzwilakhe okhohlakeleyo laza lafumana izohlwayo zembubhiso iminyaka eli-12 nako kuyinto engaqhelekanga.
Ngelixa umkhosi wase-US ugcina amajoni angama-138,000 e-Iraq, kwaye kukho ngaphezulu kwe-200,000 yeekontraka zabucala ezivumela umsebenzi, kwaye umongameli ujonge ukugcina ubuncinci i-50,000 yemikhosi yase-US e-Iraq ngokungenasiphelo, u-Obama ukwazile ukugcina ubuso obuthe tye ngelixa enyanzela urhulumente wase-Iraq ukuba " bathathe uxanduva lwelizwe labo” kwaye bongeze ukuba iUnited States “ayinabango kumhlaba kunye nezixhobo zaseIraq.”
All of this nice talk from President Obama, which he articulated just hours after a spate of bombings across Baghdad killed 15 Iraqis and wounded 27, was complimented by his and Bush’s Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who claimed that al-Qaeda in Irakh appeared to be making a “last gasp” attempt to foment sectarian violence in Baghdad. Those who have been following the news about the US occupation of Iraq closely over the last six years know all too well how many “last gasps” and “turning the corners” there have been – of which there are too many to count. This one is no different, and the fallacy of the statement was punctuated on April 10 in Mosul, when a suicide car bomb attack killed five US soldiers, along with two Iraqi troops.
Taking another page out of the Bush playbook for the occupation of Irakh, while speaking at Baghdad’s airport, Obama also said the next 18 months are “going to be a critical period.” Again, there have been more “critical periods” in Irakh throughout the occupation than I care to remember.
Two days after Obama’s visit to Baghdad’s airport, Gen. Ray Odierno told The Times that US combat troops may remain in Irakh’s cities beyond the June 30 deadline mandated by the Status of Forces Agreement.
Of course, throughout all of this rhetoric, the glaring omission is any discussion about the massive “enduring” US iziseko zomkhosi kwi Irakh kwaye i US “embassy” that is the size of the esikaPhapha.
Meanwhile, the bloodletting and destruction of Irakh qhubeka.
*April 10: ten Iraqis killed, 84 more wounded in attacks across the country. Five US soldiers (the single deadliest attack on US soldiers in over a year), two Iraqi soldiers killed in car bomb attack.
*April 9: six Iraqis killed, 19 wounded in attacks across the country. Tens of thousands demonstrate against the occupation in Baghdad on this 6th anniversary of the fall of Baghdad.
*April 8: ten Iraqis killed, 27 wounded. This was the third day in a row of significant bomb attacks in Baghdad. Another sign of the ongoing targeting of Awakening Group members by the Iraqi Government, three Awakening Council members were wounded during a bombing near Garma in Halibaja. (The Awakening Groups are a US-constructed Sunni militia. Each member was paid $300 per month of US taxpayer money until control of them was turned over to the Iraqi government last October. They had grown in strength to 100,000 men and were supposed to be absorbed into the government security apparatus, but are now being targeted by government forces on a regular basis. To date, less than a third have been given government jobs.)
*April 7: I-15 Iraqis yabulawa, i-27 yenzakele kuhlaselo kwilizwe lonke. E-Fallujah, umqhushumbisi ozibulalayo wabetha imoto yakhe kwindawo yokuhlola yamapolisa eyabulala ipolisa enye kwaye yenzakalisa abantu abalithoba baseIraq. Ilungu leBhunga le-Awakening lifunyenwe lifile kwisithili sase-Iskandariya. Isixeko sivalelwa iintsuku ezimbini emva kohlaselo.
*April 6: 45 Iraqis killed, 176 wounded and one US soldier killed. Baghdad suffers a devastating series of car bombings.
*April 5: 13 Iraqis killed, 34 wounded. In Baghdad, a senior Interior Ministry official was killed by gunmen while he was riding in his car with his family. Basra’s governor barely survived a bomb attack. An Awakening Council member is killed in Kanaan, and another Awakening Council member is wounded by a bomb in Kirkuk.
When I began reporting on the US umsebenzi we Irakh over five years ago, I quickly realized there were no coincidences in how events played out on the ground there.
On April 7, President Obama also urged the Iraqi government to do more to integrate Awakening Council members into government security forces. The Iraqi government has claimed (as does the US military) that Awakening forces have been infiltrated by al-Qaeda, Iraqi resistance members and remnants of the Ba’ath party. The Iraqi government has been carrying out ongoing targeted killings and abductions of Awakening Council members throughout Irakh for many months now.
Recently, there has been a large upswing of killings and detentions of Awakening Council members by the Iraqi government. If you think this has nothing to do with the recent upsurge of bombings and attacks across Irakh, Cinga kwakhona.
I-ZNetwork ixhaswa ngemali kuphela ngesisa sabafundi bayo.
Nikela